In early August 1990, the president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, ordered the invasion of Kuwait. Some of Hussein’s contentious justifications…
Gas Masks and Sealed Rooms: Serving in Israel During the Gulf War
The First Gulf War. The Persian Gulf War. Desert Storm and Desert Shield. All of these titles and operation names…
Trying to Negotiate with the Iranians
Elizabeth Jones became the U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan in 1995. On July 3, 1988 an Iran Air flight was making…
Commemorating Colin Powell
On October 18, 2021 America lost a remarkable leader and public servant. Colin Powell served as the highest ranking soldier,…
Spy vs. Spy: The Yin-he Incident and U.S.-China Intelligence Rivalry
Was the intelligence correct? Was the U.S. being set up? These were questions facing John Tkacik when the United States…
Raymond Hare: Our Man in Cairo during WWII
Egypt and the Suez Canal became a point of global strategic interest during WWII because of the quick access the…
The Long, Incomplete Road for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
The movement to limit or even prohibit the testing of nuclear weapons has been around almost since the dawn of…
Getting on the Seoul Train — The 1988 Summer Olympic Games
The Olympic Games represent the height of sporting diplomacy, with thousands of athletes transcending politics for two weeks as they…
Towering Infernos – The Kuwait Oil Fires
A 2010 Time Magazine article rated it as the third worst environmental catastrophe in history, right behind Chernobyl and Bhopal. As Operation…
A Bum Rap for April Glaspie — Saddam and the Start of the Iraq War
In the summer of 1990, concerns were growing that Saddam Hussein, who was massing troops near the border with Kuwait, was…